City vs. 'burbs

Sure it's expensive, but I'll take the lakefront over a lawn any day

Drive into the city from any direction and the sparkling skyline reminds you there are a million things going on in this town at any given moment.

No one drives out of the city and exclaims, "Oooh, look! Schaumburg!"

This is why the city is better.

When asked to write a side of the "City vs. Suburbs" debate, I promised not to perpetuate the stereotype that Chicago's suburbs exist because suburban drivers can't parallel park.

No. That would be wrong. Pretend it was never written.

Instead, let's approach this with common sense. You may be young and single or older and married with kids. But no matter where you fall, you want to be in the city. Accept that and you can enjoy it even more.

At the end of the day, buses pull in to see Wrigley Field and U.S. Cellular Park, not the Schaumburg Flyers or Kane County Cougars. That doesn't mean the Cougars and Flyers aren't fun; they just aren't big league. Tourists hike Sears Tower; they don't tour Sears' headquarters in Hoffman Estates 50 miles outside of the town. People shop Michigan Avenue and State Street. People float on city boats and visit art museums to buy prints of art pieces that live right here 24 hours a day.

Movie producers shoot here because the city crackles. Hollywood isn't setting up in Crete for their dramatic backdrops. Conventions fill McCormick Place and Navy Pier probably because conventioneers want something beyond their own suburban lives.

People love to make this debate a personal one. But halt right there. Don't fall into that trap.

Yes, perhaps you can afford a lawn in the suburbs. OK, the schools are better out there. Sure, city cabbies invent new and more dangerous ways to turn left.

I get it. I know why people leave, or never come to stay in the first place. No one said Chicago is perfect.

But look at the big picture: You still come downtown, home to a spacious lakefront that offers more open space to your eyes than any place outside city limits. Traffic? Don't forget: Outsiders do their fair share of coming and going and clogging our urban arteries.

Sure, there was a time when the suburbs had things the city needed. Target. Ikea. Sweet, sweet butterscotch milkshakes from Oberweiss Dairy. But even those businesses realized more people live where things happen. So they're coming downtown too.

Full disclosure: Yours truly has lived in big cities (Tokyo, Toronto and Los Angeles) and suburbs (outside Chicago, San Francisco and New York), and I will mourn the day I leave the city for a home that requires mowing. Like I said, Chicago isn't perfect.

That's why it would be horrible to imply that suburbanites wish they could get a great meal after 9 p.m., or see an improvisational show after 10 p.m., or walk to work on a nice day or visit a zoo at lunchtime.

It's insulting to suggest that. Pretend you never read it. But do stay on topic: The city is for everyone, even if you don't live here.